You're gonna need a bigger Mech

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2013)

Pretty much the textbook definition of "fun summer movie", Pacific Rim takes a Lovecraftian scenario with giant Cthulhu-like monsters ("kaiju") popping out of a portal in the middle of the ocean and mankind building giant robots to face them.
Visuals are striking, with humongous reptilian creatures rising from the waves under a pouring rain and spectacular battles in cities laid to waste.
The most interesting gimmick is how Mechs ("Jaegers") require two pilots to work, and they need to share a neural connection: the better their mutual understanding, the more effective the robot. A promising plot point which could have been explored more.
The script is serviceable. It moves fast and introduces some basic relationships and conflicts, like the broken hero who lost a loved one (Charlie Hunnam), the rookie with a personal vendetta against the monsters (cute Rinko Kikuchi), the stoic gravel-voiced leader (Idris Elba), the arrogant rival like Iceman in Top Gun - who, incidentally, is quite indistinguishable from the protagonist: if you cast two blonde guys with similar faces, age, height and build, and even put space suits on them, at least give one a moustache or something. Minor characters like the Russian and Chinese pilots are so sketchily drawn they come across as caricatures.
Del Toro has reportedly been struggling for years to adapt Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness. Pacific Rim evokes Lovecraftian imagery, but is essentially an attempt to take the sting out of it (more palatable to a mass audience!) by adding heroic characters, romance and an optimistic tone.
From a director of Del Toro's caliber I was expecting something more special and personal, but a competent, entertaining blockbuster is already a cause of minor celebration in these days.
6,5/10